June 12, 2001
SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Commissioner Michael Gilleran announced today that the West Coast Conference Menıs and Womenıs Basketball Championships will return to San Diego in 2002. The WCC will assemble a task force to explore the possibility of holding the championships at a neutral site in subsequent years.
The University of San Diego will host the championships for the second consecutive season in the picturesque Jenny Craig Pavilion on the USD campus. "Our member institutions were impressed with USD's new facility, and the USD staff did a great job managing the event," Gilleran said.
The 2002 WCC Basketball Championships will take place February 28 through March 4, and will include all 16 men's and women's teams competing for the conference's automatic bids to the NCAA Tournaments.
The Broncos traveled to the WCC Championship for the first time in three years in 2001, as the league left the mission campus to host its annual basketball showcase at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Renovations to the Leavey Center prompted the change in venue. While the women didn't advance as far as they would have liked this past season at San Diego, the Bronco men played for the title and were three points shy of a trip to the NCAA Tournament with an 80-77 loss to Gonzaga.
In all, the Bronco men have advance to the WCC title game on five occasions, winning the league championship in 1987 and '93. The women also have won two titles, from the 1992 and '98 seasons, and have advanced to the final on one other occasion, in 1993.